Merely days after the announcement of the 3G policy, ET reports the Wireless Planning and Coordination (WPC) wing of DoT has cleared allocation of 3G spectrum to state owned BSNL and MTNL. We had covered this in our thoughts on 3G, pointing to the four month head-start this would give…

Well, it seems to have happened earlier than expected. BSNL’s board has reportedly cleared the $10 billion listing. BSNL’s employee union has threatened to go on an indefinite strike if the state owned telco goes ahead with the IPO. The unions are apparently raging against the privatisation machine, stating BSNL…

If you can’t compete, legislate. In terms of telco, the policy seems to be giving a clear hand-out to PSU’s MTNL and BSNL. A report by the Standing Committe on IT this year stated BSNL was losing 8% market share every year to private telcos. Both telco’s perform averagely on…

BSNL is slated to launch a tele-education service for subscribers availing its broadband services. Under the service, BSNL will relay education programmes and provide study material for engineering, management, medical amongst others. The report states the service will be priced at Rs 250 per month. No word on if BSNL…

Aksh Optifibre has tied up with BSNL to provide IPTV services over the state owned telcos network. BSNL currently has a total landline network of 40 million across India and 6 million in the north. The 20 cities covered will be across North India including the states of Jammu and…

Well, doesn’t everybody? But the thing is, BSNL being a public sector company, just might get it. ET reports that the telco has sought an entry or licence fee exemption for WiMax, using the reasoning that it’s largely going to provide these services in rural India. Private telecom operators, on…

Public Sector mobile operator BSNL has decided to focus on content play, and this report in ET kinda reads like a tender notice: BSNL is inviting proposals for content services from VAS co’s by March 17th. They’re looking for a revenue share deal, and all partnerships will be for a…

[with inputs from Cerius Shah] —BSNL has decided to reduce tariffs for leased line Internet ports by up to 33 percent, which might result in a reduction of Internet access costs. A one mbps connection will now cost ISPs Rs. 5.1 lakh, down from Rs. 8.5 lakh. Whether this reduction…

[with inputs from Cerius Shah] —Business Standard reports that BPL Mobile, whose subsidiary Shippingstop.com has received a Letter of Intent from the Indian government for launching services in 22 circles, is preparing a warchest of $2.5 Billion. Shippingstop.com, now called Loop Telecom, is considering a both equity and debt, and…

[by Cerius Shah] As per this report on Rediff, BSNL has no plans for an IPO anytime soon. A government statement on Thursday stated that the government and ministry would internally discuss the same before making a decision. We had previously covered an announcement by BSNL stating they would sell…

[by Cerius Shah] Good old guv’nor BSNL is now getting into the valuation game. Its plan to divest 10%, which at a valuation of $100 billion (BSNL revenues for 06-07 stood at Rs 39,750 crore), works out to $10 billion (Rs 40,000 crore). Apparently the DoT is mulling over the…

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) appears to have backed down on it’s earlier recommendation of unbundling of last mile, since the government has clearly stated that they’re not keen on unbundling - former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran had said so at TiE Con in 2006. TRAI has, instead,…

Here’s an example of someone trying to push a PR agenda, pull some numbers out of their, well, backside, and using gullible journalists like this one at Mint to further their own interests. This story says BSNL is aiming for Rs 4000 crores in mobile VAS revenues by 2010 (mobile…

A couple of interesting developments around location based services (LBS): firstly, BSNL, India’s third largest mobile operator, is finalizing its location based offerings, including ‘Track Your Buddy’, Advertising services and Chatting for consumers. On the B2B front, BSNL will also offer Fleet Management Services. The services are expected to be…

BSNLs announcement of plans for WiMax reminds me of a comment made during the TiE-ISB Connect: that broadband in India was suffering because BSNL got the mandate for a broadband rollout, made announcements, brought down rates, but did not follow through on its rollout plans. Perhaps a similar situation might…

BSNL CMD Kuldeep Nair told Mint recently that it is time the company considered an IPO, but it depends on the government and employees. BSNL had cashflows of almost Rs. 11,800 crore (around $3 Billion) last year, and has plans to invest Rs. 15,000 crore thii year, and Rs. 20,000…

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), a public sector telco, has launched mobile TV streaming services in Eastern India. BSNL is offering NDTV, CNBC, Aaj Tak, Times Now, Zoom, Bindass, ETC, TV9 etc, and intends to increase its content portfolio to cover 32 TV channels by 2007 end. [via Hindu] They’re…

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is set to provide internet facility on its CDMA-based Wireless Local Loop (WLL) connections this month to its WLL customers in Jammu & Kashmir, reports the Business Standard. With this service, the WLL customers need not to switch over to GSM service to avail the…

—Today’s the last day for filing applications for a telecom licence in India, and I just checked - the convenience store across the street has not applied for a telecom licence. However, moneycontrol reports that AT&T (NYSE: T) has jointly applied for a wireless licence with Mahindra & Mahindra; Not…